Hollow metallic waveguides integrated with terahertz quantum cascade lasers.

We present the realization of a compact, monolithically integrated arrangement of terahertz quantum cascade lasers with hollow metallic cylindrical waveguides. By directly mounting a copper pipe to the end facet of a double metal waveguide, it was possible to significantly improve the far field emission from such a sub-wavelength plasmonic mode, while preserving the characteristic performance of the laser. Careful alignment of the quantum cascade laser and the hollow waveguide is required in order to prevent the excitation of higher order/mixed modes as predicted with a high degree of accuracy by a theoretical model. Finally, this approach proved to be a superior method of beam shaping when compared to other in situ arrangements, such as a silicon hyper-hemispherical lens glued to the facet, which are presented.